Arahbo, Roar of the World

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Airi
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Post by Airi » 3 years ago

My take on cat tribal, featuring Arahbo, Roar of the World. :) Originally, this deck was going to be build with Kaheera, the Orphanguard as the general, but I found that it worked better focusing on a single creature type, rather than 5. With that in place, it makes more sense to put Arahbo at the helm due to his eminence ability.
Arahbo, Roar of the World

Commander (1)

Planeswalker (2)

Approximate Total Cost:


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RowanKeltizar
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Post by RowanKeltizar » 3 years ago

I love it! One thing I would suggest is that you look at an equipment subtheme. There are a few cats that have synergy with equipment such as Kemba, Kha Regent.
WRBKaalia, Zenith Seeker - Certified Air Raid Material
WBElenda, the Dusk Rose - Drain and Gain
WRAurelia, the Warleader - Tokens/Equipment
URNiv-Mizzet, Parun - Controlled Burn primer
BRGHenzie, "Toolbox" Torre - Creature Feature
BRGSoul of Windgrace - Lands Matter
RGWGishath, Sun's Avatar - I'M YOUR DADDY
GWUBAtraxa, Praetors' Voice - Artifact Stax Beatdown
Budget Starter Decks
UBSygg, River Cutthroat
WU Shorikai, Genesis Engine
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Haman
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Post by Haman » 3 years ago

lost leonin and duelist heritage is a dream combo, if your playgroup don't mind infect

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darrenhabib
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Post by darrenhabib » 3 years ago

Meow Metallic Mimic Growl Mew Kaheera, the Orphanguard Purr.
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If you remove Metallic Mimic you can have Kaheera, the Orphanguard as your companion instead.

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Airi
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Post by Airi » 3 years ago

RowanKeltizar wrote:
3 years ago
I love it! One thing I would suggest is that you look at an equipment subtheme. There are a few cats that have synergy with equipment such as Kemba, Kha Regent.
I originally had an equipment subtheme, but I removed it during my first pass on the deck. I'm not 100% sure how to balance it enough to make it effective without compromising on running lots of cats yet.
Haman wrote:
3 years ago
lost leonin and duelist heritage is a dream combo, if your playgroup don't mind infect
I'll be honest, it's less that I don't want to play infect, and more that Lost Leonin has exceedingly creepy art >.<
darrenhabib wrote:
3 years ago
Meow Metallic Mimic Growl Mew Kaheera, the Orphanguard Purr.
English translation
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If you remove Metallic Mimic you can have Kaheera, the Orphanguard as your companion instead.
The eternal conflict for me. Running Kaheera as a companion would solve a lot of my problems, as I mostly want her in the command zone for the art. But it would be unfair of me to have spent the last six-ish months complaining about the mechanic (and still having a strong desire to see it banned, tbh), and then turn around and run it myself.

I compromised on that issue by getting a playmat and accepting that it was as close as I'd get.

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RowanKeltizar
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Post by RowanKeltizar » 3 years ago

I agree that an equipment subtheme might be hard to fit in well here, especially if you want a high density of cats.

My initial feeling of course is that you are pretty heavy on creatures though. If I were trying to build this I would make a little more room for interaction, ramp, and card draw and only run the most powerful or synergistic ones, but I also understand you are wanting to make a beautiful cat deck with aesthetics and flavor while running as many cats possible which is certainly something I can get behind! :)

Perhaps a few cards that are still on theme and could find a place:

Draw:
Hunter's Insight - super efficient. hitting someone for 3-5 damage should be easy to do, but if they have doublestrike then this can be a blowout.
Soul's Majesty
Elemental Bond - If you can consistently buff your 2/2 cats to 3 power, this can be a very powerful draw engine.
Inspiring Call - I love how cheap this is to cast, but I'm not sure how consistently you can get counters on your cats. Worth building around a bit maybe? Lets not forget that this provides indestructibility which might be worth the mana alone.

Cheating cats into play:
Descendants' Path - you can set this up with the below card, but also any tutor that puts a creature on top of your library.
Mirri's Guile - Mirri's Guile works wonders by itself with fetchlands or any instant speed shuffle effect. With so many cats I think it could work pretty well.
Lurking Predators - Kindred Summons is usually much better. I think this is a bit of a trap card, but might be worth a try.


Duelist's Heritage - if you want to get combat damage in, this is hard to beat in terms of efficiency, it can also be a very effective political card encouraging players to not attack you.

Removal:

Tutors:
note: the enchantment tutors are great for finding Mirari's Wake, but can also grab Aura Shards or Descendant's Path

Ramp: If you were running more ramp I think you could drop down to 35 lands while taking a closer look at your mana curve.
WRBKaalia, Zenith Seeker - Certified Air Raid Material
WBElenda, the Dusk Rose - Drain and Gain
WRAurelia, the Warleader - Tokens/Equipment
URNiv-Mizzet, Parun - Controlled Burn primer
BRGHenzie, "Toolbox" Torre - Creature Feature
BRGSoul of Windgrace - Lands Matter
RGWGishath, Sun's Avatar - I'M YOUR DADDY
GWUBAtraxa, Praetors' Voice - Artifact Stax Beatdown
Budget Starter Decks
UBSygg, River Cutthroat
WU Shorikai, Genesis Engine
Image

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darrenhabib
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Post by darrenhabib » 3 years ago

Airi wrote:
3 years ago
The eternal conflict for me. Running Kaheera as a companion would solve a lot of my problems, as I mostly want her in the command zone for the art. But it would be unfair of me to have spent the last six-ish months complaining about the mechanic (and still having a strong desire to see it banned, tbh), and then turn around and run it myself.

I compromised on that issue by getting a playmat and accepting that it was as close as I'd get.
I don't know what your history has been on the concept, but often the best way to talk about a subject with any authority is by actually experiencing it yourself from both sides.

Companion is actually a super weak mechanic in commander. You can check out in my signature that I've basically tried all of them in some capacity. Once the 3 rule was applied it kind of made it unplayable.

So at least once you've tried it you can talk about the subject with more actual weight behind your arguments for or against the mechanic.
Don't want to sound preachy, but I do dislike it when people protest against something but don't have any experience with the subject.
I mean have you really have that bad of an experience playing against people with a companion or did you just make up your mind at the very beginning?

Anyway that is my suggestion is to just give it a try so that moving forward when talking about the companion mechanic and perhaps still wanting to ban it you can say that you tried it and indeed it felt whatever you feel.

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Airi
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Post by Airi » 3 years ago

RowanKeltizar wrote:
3 years ago
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I agree that an equipment subtheme might be hard to fit in well here, especially if you want a high density of cats.

My initial feeling of course is that you are pretty heavy on creatures though. If I were trying to build this I would make a little more room for interaction, ramp, and card draw and only run the most powerful or synergistic ones, but I also understand you are wanting to make a beautiful cat deck with aesthetics and flavor while running as many cats possible which is certainly something I can get behind! :)

Perhaps a few cards that are still on theme and could find a place:

Draw:
Hunter's Insight - super efficient. hitting someone for 3-5 damage should be easy to do, but if they have doublestrike then this can be a blowout.
Soul's Majesty
Elemental Bond - If you can consistently buff your 2/2 cats to 3 power, this can be a very powerful draw engine.
Inspiring Call - I love how cheap this is to cast, but I'm not sure how consistently you can get counters on your cats. Worth building around a bit maybe? Lets not forget that this provides indestructibility which might be worth the mana alone.

Cheating cats into play:
Descendants' Path - you can set this up with the below card, but also any tutor that puts a creature on top of your library.
Mirri's Guile - Mirri's Guile works wonders by itself with fetchlands or any instant speed shuffle effect. With so many cats I think it could work pretty well.
Lurking Predators - Kindred Summons is usually much better. I think this is a bit of a trap card, but might be worth a try.


Duelist's Heritage - if you want to get combat damage in, this is hard to beat in terms of efficiency, it can also be a very effective political card encouraging players to not attack you.

Removal:

Tutors:
note: the enchantment tutors are great for finding Mirari's Wake, but can also grab Aura Shards or Descendant's Path

Ramp: If you were running more ramp I think you could drop down to 35 lands while taking a closer look at your mana curve.
Yeah, list will 100% need some functionality tweaking to make it actually playable and enjoyable to pilot. Unfortunately, due to covid I've mostly been stuck with just coming up with the initial ideas for decks, as I have no outlet to play them (I work in a medium-exposure job, but also have a chronic illness that requires me to be in and out of various doctors offices and hospitals, so I have been avoiding going out to minimize not getting other people sick, and not exposing myself more than need be) >.< I will definitely come back to this post when I get the chance to play though. I can already see some cards I could fairly painlessly swap for some of your suggestions.
darrenhabib wrote:
3 years ago
I don't know what your history has been on the concept, but often the best way to talk about a subject with any authority is by actually experiencing it yourself from both sides.

Companion is actually a super weak mechanic in commander. You can check out in my signature that I've basically tried all of them in some capacity. Once the 3 rule was applied it kind of made it unplayable.

So at least once you've tried it you can talk about the subject with more actual weight behind your arguments for or against the mechanic.
Don't want to sound preachy, but I do dislike it when people protest against something but don't have any experience with the subject.
I mean have you really have that bad of an experience playing against people with a companion or did you just make up your mind at the very beginning?

Anyway that is my suggestion is to just give it a try so that moving forward when talking about the companion mechanic and perhaps still wanting to ban it you can say that you tried it and indeed it felt whatever you feel.
I really don't want to have a 'is companion okay' debate here. I'm amenable to doing so in the banlist forum, but it violates a philosophy thing for me, and it's never been about it being strong. So yes, I could play with it, it wouldn't be game breaking (nor do I think any of them are), but it doesn't really fix my core issues. It's lose-lose, I don't run it? People say I'm basing arguments with no experience. I do run it? Now I'm a hypocrite for still using the mechanic but supporting a ban.

I can appreciate where you're coming from, but I've thought a lot about whether or not it's worth it to just bite the bullet and play with the card. I'm comfortable in my decision to run her in the 99 and occasionally swap her to the general spot when I'm feeling particularly attached to adorable baby animals. Again, I'll leave it at that because this isn't really a debate thread. :)

Edit: I just wanted to add some clarification, but this is a deck I'm hoping to have for a long time, rather than one of my more mutable lists. It's why I'm resistant to putting in that kind of change, because it's a choice that's going to stick for a long time. I'm not a fan of just trying it out, only to remove it later because of the above reasons when I've had the deck for several months.

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Airi
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Post by Airi » 3 years ago

I've added a few updates to expand on some of my non-creature categories. ^.^

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Post by Slipperygecko » 3 years ago

I have an Arahbo deck that has Kaheera as the companion - whilst the mechanic is unfortunately a bit weak it does means I can run less creatures (because there's always a cat available) and replace them with other cards such as ramp, "buff" (equipment, rancor and other recursive effects) and draw cards. Arahbo is pretty bonkers when you can use his activated ability and swing with a double striker.

My preference was with "go tall" rather than "go wide" as it means wipes / removal doesn't mess the board too much since you can drop another cat and pop off. Looks like you're going for go wide instead tho, how have you found it against more powerful metas? I have a hard time dealing with combos and win by combat damage is unfortunately a bit slow against anything other than battlecruiser

Isn't greaves a nonbo? I run boots instead as otherwise it blocks the eminence effect

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